"What was that" it looked like Celestia's school to me. well yes I saw that but what I don't get is what it has do with this Zack thought looking at the pendant but its my only clue so "what was that phrase, oh yes, Allon'sy"

a short train ride later Zack stood in front of Celestia's school for gifted unicorns luckly Zack sent word ahead and got a meeting with the schools headmaster an somewhat elderly pony off-white in color with no mane and confined to a wheelchair but he is the leading researcher in genetics

"here goes nothing" Zack was about to knock when the door opened on its own as the professor was in the lobby many hooves past the door "Professor Charles Xhayier I presume"

{sorry I couldn't resist, I'm a big X-men fan and with pop-culture refrence in the show}

{Ya... I did have another character for the school head, but for an X-Man cameo... OK fine.}

"A pleasure to meet you, young unicorn. You have the look of the guard about you, so may I assume that you have come for Dashing Orange?"

"Who?"

"Ah, well I spouse no one can guess correctly all the time. Not without the ability to read minds at any rate." He chuckles as he beckons you inside. "Well Dashing is the head of our history department. He has been in quite the demand ever since this trouble with the Children of Night started up. It annoys him to know end, I assure you! That colt has spent more time then is healthy studying the origins of Nightmare Moon since dear Luna was returned to us two years ago. So when all this bother started up with this cultist using a name from the first war, he has become quite the center of attention.

He rolls himself now the corridor till he reached a large, lovely door with his name written on it. "I am sorry, you did not come to hear be gossip, what did you come for, I am sure if what you seek is hear, I can help you find it." He opens the door with magic and gives you an inquisitive look. Looking at the only pony you get the distinct feeling that he did not just tell you that out of idle gossip. You have heard that there are few unicorns as magically talented or as well read as the teachers at Celestia's school.

The old unicorn looks at the amulet. "Well finding miss Twilight's parents will hardy be a problem. I have there home address on file and I will get that too you before you leave. As for her young assistant, I have not seen him since I last saw her. If you know where she is I doubt he will be far off thou, devoted, that one." He gently lifts the amulet and tuns its back and fourth. "As for this... There are runes on this that I have never seen before, except in very old scrolls. You could take it to Dashing Orange in the history department or to Apple Polish in enchanting. Orange could probably tell you more about what the amulet is, but Apple could tell you what it dose."

{1. Apple Polish was Brown manned, light tan unicorn in Twilight's exam. Dashing Orange is an OC. 2. Unless you want to let the trail get even colder this is going to be something of a one or the other chose for right now.}

"Yes of coarse! The history department is just up the stares and too the right, once you are there..."

* * *

5 minutes latter you have the address of Twilight's parents home and are standing before a plain office door. Knocking you hear a voice call out to you. "Come right in!"

Entering the room you find yourself in a spaces office, the two walls to either side of the entrance are lined with books, the opposite wall is covered in places and certifications along with two paintings. The first shows the two princesses standing in there thrown room, the second is of a pair of Unicorns, the older a dark red, the younger a bright orange.

Under these paintings is a solid looking desk decorated with a number of strange looking sculptures and fragments of rock, held under glass. Behind the desk is the same orange unicorn from the painting, thou looking noticeably older then the youthful image hung behind him.

"Well, what can I do for you?" His voice is some what brisk, but you get the feeling that he is more frustrated then rude rude. "You are with the guard no doubt?" He dose not give you time to respond, before blurting out, "Look for the hundredth time, the historical record is incomplete at best and there is only so much I can tell you about these cultist from the history that they draw upon for there ridicules movement!" He takes a deep breath and tries to compose himself. "I am sorry, that was uncalled for. I have been at my wits end over this whole nasty business and I am afraid its made me a bit testy. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Don't worry about it. We are all dealing with alto right now." You life the amulet. "Actually I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this?"

The unicorns jaw drops. He runs around his desk and begins to peer at the amulet. "By the sun and moon! This has the markings of Princess Luna on it and the magic that's contained in it... that's her's too!" He looks at you in astonishment, "I have only heard of artifacts like this from accounts predating Luna's fall! I doubt she has made anything like this since returning, which makes this... easy over one thousand years old!" He looks down at the amulet aging. "Where did you ever find this? Can you remove it? I have read that only the Princess herself can place these on a ponies neck or remove them once placed. Is that true?"

"The record is incomplete, so I can't tell you anything for certain you understand." The unicorn telekinetically picks up a roll of parchment and begins sketching the amulet. "From the symbols here and... here, I would say that this was or is a mark of office. No, I don't know what office, but if must have been important considering the magic involved."

He taps the amulet with a hoof. "Ouch! Well that's cold, mark of Luna's magic no doubt. Considering your not shouting in pain, either your tougher then just about anypony I have ever meet or its not actively freezing you."

"No its not, but it has gotten colder a few times. When I was in danger in Cloudsdale and when it gave me... a vision of some sort."

You quickly fill him in on two visions you had, the first when you touched the amulet and the second when you where knocked unconscious. The unicorn nods thoughtfully then says "Yes... the first would have been an automatic response and the second... well Luna is the ruler of the night. It is not inconceivable that her ability to communicate with other ponies, especially ones who bare her own seal, would be grater when they are asleep... I think I read about that..." He looks at the large collects around him and sighs. "Some where." You look outside, the day is drawing to a close and its already been attest 10 hours since Spike was dragonnapped.

"Is there anything else you can tell me? I am in kinda a rush." You ask.

"Hum?" He makes a final mark on the parchment he was working on, before looking up at you. "Oh forgive me. No there is not much more I can tell you now, except that what you have around your neck is an artifact beyond value! Please try not to damage it! Don't bother trying to remove it either. While I am sure Celestia could remove it for you, she could not do so without destroying it. For whatever reason Luna wanted it around your neck and Luna alone can safely remove it. Oh and if you find yourself falling asleep... be prepared, I suspect your visions are far from over."

He lifts the parchment he was drawing on and moves it to his desk. A number of books lift from the shelves around you and float over to the desk. Trotting around behind his desk, Dashing Orange opens one of the books to its index and begins to skim. "I will look into your amulet and some of the runes engraved on it. If you happen to find yourself with a bit more free time, I may have more information for you once I have had some more time to research!"

You thank him and leave, hiding a small smile at the excitement in the other ponies voice at the prospect of research. You have the feeling that if Celestia had not taken Twilight on as a personal student, then she would have found quite the kindred spirit in the older historian.

guess the only thing left to do is see if Night Light and Twilight Velvet (Twi's dad and mom) know about Spike just be carefull if Light find out your to blame .... I'm glad not you you are me oh right ... for Faust's sake don't let him find out Zack chuckled and looked up to find him self at the door

You knock and after a few minutes you hear a call from within the house. "Just a moment!"

The door opens and you see the filmier face of Twilight Velvet. "Oh Zack, dear how are you!" She beams at you as she opens the door to allow you in. "Light is in his work room right now, but I will let him know your hear. Help yourself to anything in the pantries!" She calls back to yo as she hurries off.

The house is large and spaces. Night Lights hoof work is evident in the way the home is light. The unicorn had always had special talent for turning the simple job of illuminating a space into an art form. His work decorated the homes of some of the most prestige homes, business and public buildings in the city. Thou he had a bit of a reputation for butting heads with patrons (his obsessive compulsive need to have things worked out on time and by scheduled, while not as pronounced as his daughters, was still an occupational sources of conflict while thous he worked for) his high quality of workmanship insured that the family had never hurt for money, even living in a high end section of the famed city. This worked out well for Velvet, whose passion for astrology had never been particularly profitable.

After a short time Twilight Velvet returns with Night Light. Upon seeing you the Blue Stallion gives you a warm smile. "Zack! How have you been, I don't think I have seen you since the wedding!" He canters over and throws a leg around you in hug.

Stepping back he asks, "What brings you around here? Are you off duty? Is there some sort of a reunion no one bothered telling me about?" He gives his wife a quick look, but she simply shakes her head, looking bemused.

Zack chuckled the whole time "no nothing like that sir, .... do either of you know anything about these cultists" Zack's mood sombered "Spike has gone missing, Twi and think its the Children of Nightmare" Zack grits his teeth "I swear if something happens to him" he stops as his eyes glow faintly orange

Night Light leaves a comforting hoof on Zack's back. "I have no doubt that you and Twi are right. Thous crazy half wits have been causing no end of grief around Equestria these last few weeks, but I am sure Spike will be fine. There not the nicest ponies around, but they have never hurt anypony too badly. Spike is a brave little guy and there's no reason to panic." He tries to sooth you, but its clear he is not exactly buying his own words.

"Wait? Haven't hurt anypony... have you not hurt about Cloudsdale yet?" You ask, fearing that you already know the answer.

"No? What happened?" Twilight Velvet walk up to you and looks you straight in the eyes. "was there another demonstration? Did it get violent? Was anypony hurt?" He voice is uncharacteristically hard as she continues to look eyes on you.

"There was an attack... cloudsdale was badly damaged. Some ponies... did not make it out in time." You finish with quietly.

Night Light sits down heavily, but Twilight Velvet counties to stare at you for a moment longer, as if hopping to catch you in some lie. Then her eyes begin to water. "Oh my." she whispers before turning and trotting over to her dumbstruck husband.

The two sit together in silence for a time before. Both rise and start walking back, into there house. Velvet calls back to you in a thin voice, quite unlike her normal tone. "Thank you Zack, but I think we need to be alone now."

* * *

5 minutes latter you are standing on the front porch of Twilight's old home. With the her parent's off the list, the already day old trail seems to have gone rather cold. You are pondering where to go next, when a rather familiar gray pegasus comes cantering down the walk towered you. She has a mail bag slug over her black and has a determined look on her face.

Before you can say anything she shoves her head into her empty looking mail bag, before pulling it out aging with a sealed letter now carefully held in her mouth. She leans forward and offers it to you.

You take it and thank her, to which she response with a proud smile, before recomposing herself.

The letter reads, "Dear Mr. Marcus. I know what you are looking for and I think we can help one another. The mail mare who delivered this to you has agreed to guild you back to me on the duel conditions you come alone and that you come straight here with her. This is not a trap. I feel I can trust the two of you, but I don't know if I can trust thous you might tell. Even our most trusted friends must be left out of this. You too are the only ones I know I can trust. Please hurry, things are moving quickly now and I don't know how long I have!

The pegasus leads you the train station. To your surprise she asks for two tickets to Ponyville.

One train ride latter you are back in the idyllic small town. The streets are mostly empty of ponies by this hour, thous few who remain out and about, mostly being guards.

Leading you out of the town Ditzy canters over the fields and meadows before finally reaching a small cottage, not far into the Whitetail Woods.

Ditzy knocks twice on the door, seems to count to three in her head, then knocks aging. At the last knock you hear somepony inside call out, "Who is it?"

"Its me and I have him!" Ditzy announces cheerfully.

The door swings open and a robed figure sticks its head out and looks at you. "Grate! Now come inside before your spotted!" It snaps, before vanishing back inside.

As the two of you entire the small home, the robed figure slams the door behind you. Ditzy ignores this and makes a B line for a small table where three meals have been prepared and laid out.

The clocked figure hurries from window to window, after a short time he seems to relax and turns to you, removing his hood as he dose so. "I am sorry for how crazy getting you here has been. Since this morning I have been nervous about just walking out the door."

You are hardly surprised to see that it is the same light blue, dark purple maned pegasus from the hill that morning. Still you can't help, but feel like there is some other connection there...